Conservation Matters November 2015

Since 2005, the Texas Water Resources Institute (TWRI) has published its flagship magazine, txH2O, and the Fall 2015 issue celebrates those 10 years of publishing as well as the announcement of Dr. John C. Tracy as the institute’s new director.

Texas A&M University students recently took a hands-on approach to understanding water resource management concerns in rural regions. This past summer 19 graduate students from Texas A&M University and 15 students from the University of Guanajuato enrolled in a two-week water management study abroad course in Guanajuato, Mexico.

But even before the term was coined by E. O. Wilson in his 1992 book “The Diversity of Life,” Dr. Lee Fitzgerald and his research team were cataloging biological diversity within the country of Paraguay.

Since the 1950s, the Texas Parks and Wildlife (TPWD) staff, currently referred to as the Kills and Spills Team, have responded to and investigated 9,345-reported pollution events and fish and wildlife kills in the state.

While most students consider a beach day to be a relaxing vacation, a handful of Texas A&M University students recently turned a coastal visit to an environmental conservation opportunity.

Twenty students from Texas A&M’s student chapter of the Marine Technology Society (MTS) and Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (SNAME), joined hundreds of other volunteers on Sept. 26 to participate in a Galveston beach cleanup.

Not every grass is a good fit for home lawns, golf courses or athletic playing fields, so turfgrass researcher Dr. Casey Reynolds is testing varieties and comparing them side by side under Texas conditions as a part of the National Turfgrass Evaluation Program (NTEP).

With the appearance of chronic wasting disease (CWD) in a Texas deer in July, the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service and others have made educating the hunting public about this disease and the necessary precautions to take a priority.

Grazing management, grazing land economics and marketing, public policy, soil health and the agriculture/urban interface will be among the topics highlighting at the 6th National Conference on Grazing Lands in Dallas, Texas.

TWRI and the Texas A&M Natural Resources Institute are working together to foster and communicate research and educational outreach programs focused on water and natural resources science and management issues in Texas and beyond.